He has taken two positions on torture and Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

The first position was that "the United States does not torture." How do we know? Because he says so. Anyhow, he was confident enough in his position, as was the CIA, that no legislation was required.

But, apparently, his say so isn't good enough anymore. Now, he thinks that some of the things the CIA did was torture. At least it appears so, as he is trying to get Congress to define torture to protect the CIA.

But, I think it is a ruse. I believe the CIA have used and will use the same tactics, with or without a law.